A Very Awkward Christmas
by Melllama
Summary: Marinette and Adrien are paired up to make gingerbread cookies for the class's Christmas party. The problem is, Adrien hasn't baked since his mother died. How will things turn out? And what will happen at the party?
1. Chapter 1

A Very Awkward Christmas

Adrien Agreste was in her kitchen. _Adrien Agreste_ was in her kitchen.

They had been standing there in silence excluding a couple of questions on baking from Adrien. Simply breathing the same air as Adrien made Marinette so nervous that she had decided to just communicate by nodding, so that she wouldn't stumble with her words and embarrass herself.

Marinette was panicking inside as her blond classmate was just about to pour too much sugar into the bowl. She would have to say something or the gingerbread dough would be ruined. She didn't want to say anything. But she also didn't want disappoint everyone.

"Stop!" Marinette rushed to take the sugar off his hands. _Oh crap. That was too aggressive._ Blood rushed to Marinette's face as she looked above to see Adrien's face.

Their teacher had paired them up to make gingerbreads for the class's Christmas party on Thursday. Marinette had hoped to be baking with Alya, but knew it would be petty to whine about not being paired up with her best friend. Well, with anyone but Adrien. Or Chloe.

"Sorry, uh, was I putting too much sugar? I'm really sorry," Adrien forced a nervous laugh. You could see in his face that he felt really awkward.

"It's fine, really," Marinette quickly turned away from Adrien.

Adrien frowned. "I'm sorry I suck at this. It's just... The last time I made gingerbreads was when I was 6."

Marinette looked at him again. Did he think she was angry at him? Marinette didn't mind Adrien messing things up, she knew he probably didn't bake a lot because he had people do that for him.

Then it hit her. What an idiot had she been?

"N-no I understand, y-you probably don't get to bake a lot..." Marinette felt disappointed at herself. "I should be the one who's sorry. I should have helped you, but I just let my nervousness get to me. I'm sorry Ad - "

 _Oh no._ Did she just admit she was nervous? She had no reason to be nervous about baking with him! Would he think she was weird? Would he see through her?

Adrien looked surprised. "You're nervous?"

Marinette's blush grew redder.

"Oh my God, is it something I did? I knew you were uncomfortable around me," Adrien started to panic. "If it's about that gum thing - "

"No, no! You didn't do anything. You're great. I'm the one who's awkward," Marinette said as she intensely stared at the dough.

Now it was Adrien's turn to blush. "Great... I mean! Great that you're not mad at me!"

Silence filled the room again. This time it was more awkward, but still fairly light-hearted.

Adrien ended up being a lot of help for Marinette and she worked hard to make herself teach Adrien how to mix the dough by her placing his hands correctly.

"I think it turned out pretty nicely!" Marinette smiled.

"Yeah! Go team!" Adrien raised his hand for a high five. Marinette laughed and went for it.

"So now we just put it in the fridge to cool down and you can come by again tomorrow," Marinette said. "Unless you're busy. If you are, I totally get it, and - "

"I wouldn't miss this," Adrien said and placed his hand on Marinette's shoulder. Marinette felt like her heart was about to burst.

"You're not going anywhere yet, though. We still need to clean up," Marinette laughed and looked at the mess they'd made.

Adrien flashed a smile and reached for a cleaning rag.


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette hadn't stopped feeling giggly since Adrien left. And that was yesterday.

"Tell me everything, girl!" Alya was excited too. The curiosity was all over her face. Class was about to start, but Adrien and Nino hadn't arrived yet, so it was safe to talk.

"Adrien touched my shoulder!" Marinette couldn't stop herself from smiling. She should have been tired since she didn't sleep well last night, but she was full of energy.

"Well that's _something_ ," Alya laughed.

"How did you and Juleka's brownies turn out?" Marinette asked.

"I'm no baker, but I'd say they came out pretty nicely," Alya grinned with pride.

Marinette noticed a certain someone walk through the door. Adrien flashed the two girls a smile as he sat down. Marinette had to keep in a nervous giggle.

"Hey guys," Adrien said to them and then turned his head to Marinette. "Do you have enough cookie molds or should I go buy some?"

"No, t-that's okay. We have plenty!" Marinette assured. She wanted it to be afternoon already. Or did she? It could be easier to do things by herself, so she wouldn't make a fool out of herself in front of Adrien. Maybe it would be easier if Adrien wouldn't come at all, and then -

Nino ran in just as the bell rang. "Made it!"

o - o - o - o - o

Adrien grabbed his bag and ran as fast as he could. His photoshoot had finally ended, and maybe he could still make it in time to Marinette's house. Maybe he could tell his car driver to drive just a bit faster, and he could even make a cool entrance. Not that he needed to impress Marinette, he didn't want people to like him for fancy cars, and they were already friends. Kind of?

Were they, though? The atmosphere between them was not the same he had with Nino. Adrien knew how friends acted together, and Marinette always looked like she felt uneasy with him. They did address it yesterday, but Adrien hadn't really gotten an explanation.

Adrien's phone rang. _Maybe it's Marinette_. Adrien grabbed his phone from his bag in a rush.

"Hello?"

"Adrien, I have another photoshoot for you. Come here right now, Buford knows the way," said a serious voice. It always felt weird to hear Adrien's father call The Gorilla by his real name, but Adrien couldn't focus on that right now.

"I'm sorry, father. I have other plans for today, I'm baking with Marinette for - "

"You must cancel that. This photoshoot is great for our name."

Adrien turned grim. _This again?_ "Do they have someone else to fill in?"

"Yes, but I got this job for you, therefore I need you to arrive as quicly as possible." The tone in his voice didn't change. It never did. Always demanding, almost robotic. Adrien was sick of it.

"I truly am sorry, father." Adrien hung up. His good mood had been shattered, and now he really needed to hurry. Adrien was already at the bottom of the stairs as he realized he couldn't get in the car. As much as The Gorilla was his friend, he was still under Gabriel Agreste's commands and would take Adrien to the photoshoot. Adrien needed to figure something out and time was running out.

 _Adrien can't get to Marinette, but Chat Noir can._

Adrien ran to a side street where no one could see. "Plagg, claws out!"

Adrien, now Chat Noir, got his way to the rooftop of a gray building, and enjoyed the moment of freedom he felt jumping high above the expectations of his father. He couldn't actually succeed them, but sometimes physically being away from them was enough.

Chat Noir was on top of the bakery in no time. _Oh no._ He wasn't the only one at the bakery, well at least wouldn't be. He saw the familiar car in traffic lights, relatively far away. But Chat knew the car was coming here. _I shouldn't have told him where I was going._

Chat had no choice but to wait for the car to arrive and The Gorilla to knock on the bakery's door. It took painfully long because of the traffic, but Chat didn't want to cause a scene. With what seemed like lightning speed, Marinette opened the door.

 _"_ Sorry, we're closed today, my parents are participating in a competition. Come again tomorrow, we'll have Christmas-themed muffins!"

"Is Adrien Agreste here?"

A pause. Chat felt bad about being late, Marinette had probably expected him to arrive already.

"No, haven't seen him since school."

"I was told he would be baking here today."

"Yeah. I'll let you know if he arrives?"

 _If. Not when, if._

"Thank you, miss." With that, The Gorilla got back in the car and left. Marinette was an honest girl, and Chat didn't want to make her lie for him. He looked to see if anyone was around and jumped down.

"Hello, princess!" He smiled. Just seeing Marinette made him suddenly very happy.

"Hey, kitty. What brings you here?" Marinette looked like she wasn't in a very good mood. Her blue eyes weren't as bright as they usually were.

"Since there are no akuma attacks right now, your classmate Adrien, the cute model, sent me here to be your prince and bake with you!" Chat said and hoped he could get Marinette to smile. She looked like she expected him to tell more.

"He got caught up in his photoshoots and is very sorry. He really wanted to be here," Chat said with a sad smile.

"Oh." Marinette paused again. "That's okay, I think I can handle. Thanks for telling me, Chaton." Marinette grabbed the door to close it, and Chat was caught by surprise.

"Whoa-oh, slow down, Princess! I know I have paws for hands, but is it really that awful of a thought to bake with me?"

Now Marinette looked surprised, too. "I didn't realize you were so excited, kitty. Come in."

Marinette led Chat to the kitchen even though Chat already knew the way.

"We made the dough yesterday so now you and I just make the best gingerbread cookies possible!" Marinette said. She still didn't seem too happy.

"Before we start..." Chat said and grabbed Marinette's arm before she could reach the fridge. "Tell me, why do you look like your cat ran away?"

Marinette turned to Chat and looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. _Why did I grab her? Would it be weird if I let go now?_ Chat felt a light blush reach his cheeks, and wasn't really sure why it happened.

For a second it looked like Marinette wasn't about to open up, but she then sighed and looked away. "It's just that..." Marinette glanced at Chat again. She touched her blue hair with her free hand. "I thought it would be better if Adrien got busy, but now that it actually happened... I guess I was just kind of excited, after all."

Chat felt awful. Maybe he shouldn't have come here as Chat Noir. But now it was too late to be Adrien, so he just had to cheer her up as what he was. And hopefully that would be enough.

"I understand, Princess. I'm sure he felt the same way," Chat said and grabbed Marinette's other arm too. They were eye to eye and maybe, just maybe, Marinette's pretty eyes did have some sparkle to them again.

The awkward arm-grabbing transformed into holding hands. Her hands were small and Chat cursed that his costume involved gloves. A string of hair had fallen from Marinette's left pigtail onto her cheek and Chat gently moved it behind her ear. They stood there in silence for a moment. Chat felt like he couldn't get enough of looking at her.

"The cookies."

"Right! The cookies!" Chat practically jumped away from Marinette and his face was as red as a ladybug. _What am I doing? What am I doing? WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK AM I DOING?_

"I found the dough!" He said.

"We shall begin!" Marinette said, amused by what seemed to be Chat in a weird mood.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm making this one a black cat," Marinette said as she was pouring black icing on a cat shaped gingerbread cookie. Chat noted how excited she looked.

"Well I always knew my handsomeness should be portrayed on gingerbread," Chat said and grinned. He was kind of happy Marinette wanted to make a cookie of him.

Marinette rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "You should make a ladybug."

"Hmm..." Chat grabbed a woman shaped cookie. "I think I'll make a princess."

Marinette looked surprised. "Come on, we need the heroes of Paris."

"Tell me Princess, why are you making everything handmade when you could've just as easily bought the dough and icing from the store and no one would've judged you?" Chat asked and turned his face to Marinette, who was now looking even more surprised.

"Uh..." Marinette placed green icing as the black cat's eyes. "Well, the ones in the store aren't as delicious, and they also have an unnecessary amount of sugar," Marinette smiled at the cookie she had just finished and moved on to the next one. "So I figured this way would be the best."

"See? Making the best cookies possible for your classmates, that's what I call a hero!" Chat felt happy. He wished for Marinette to realize how awesome she was.

Marinette looked down. "Urm..." Chat could see her cheeks were a light shade of pink. "Thanks, kitty."

 _o - o - o - o - o_

Her patrol was over, but she didn't feel like going home just yet. The superhero decided to transform back to Marinette and walk around the city for a bit.

The streets were already full of decorations and many balconies had different colored lights on them. Mari had always enjoyed the atmosphere Christmas brought to Paris and how it inspired her to design. Like how she had made herself a detailed red dress for the party her class was having. _Oh right, the party._

Marinette still needed to figure out which tactic she would use to get Adrien to go to the party with her. She had been planning on asking him today, but things hadn't turned out the way she had expected them to. Though if she were to be honest, she knew she probably wouldn't have had the courage to ask him anyway.

The only way she could ask him now was by texting or calling, or by meeting up with him for only that one question. _A letter?_ Everything seemed hard and Marinette wasn't sure what to do. _I'll figure it out when I get home._

It wasn't snowing right now but the ground was covered in snow as leftovers from the snowing that happened earlier that day. Marinette realized she wasn't very far away from her house anymore. She noticed a familiar silhouette in the dark throwing snowballs at trees. Her heart stopped for a second.

 _What do I do? Do I walk past? Do I say hi? HELP ME SOMEONE BUT NOT YOU ADRIEN, PLEASE DON'T NOTICE._

The blond turned around to grab more snow and he looked almost startled. "Marinette!"

 _I WASN'T MENTALLY PREPARED FOR THIS!_ "Good morning - no I take that back - it's the evening, silly me!" Marinette slapped herself in her mind. "H-hi Adrien."

"Oh I know, your house is nearby, right?" Adrien smiled looking kind of shy and Marinette nodded;

"Y-yeah..."

"Listen Marinette," Adrien frowned a little. "I'm really sorry about today. Don't get the wrong idea, I really did wanna come," Adrien looked like a lost kitten, at least in Marinette's eyes. "I'm sorry I let you down."

"Don't worry about it, the cookies turned out great!" Marinette showed an understanding smile. It's not like Adrien didn't text her before her patrol to check up on things. He was ready to do the work, but Marinette had already finished things with Chat. "Besides, I had a friend help me out."

Marinette was willing to believe she and Chat were great partners at both saving the city and decorating cookies. Chat hadn't even seemed to mind she wan't Ladybug. Now that she thought about it, she felt she could open up to Chat more as Marinette, when she didn't have to worry about him finding out her identity. And it had been surprisingly fun to casually chat with Chat. A smile reached Marinette's face.

Adrien looked happy too now, probably because he found out Marinette wasn't alone crying in a corner making broken hearts out of gingerbread. Adrien's smile was really cute.

"A-and I always enjoy making gingerbread cookies anyway," Marinette said.

"I didn't know you liked to bake! Cool."

Marinette chuckled. "Well, my parents do own a bakery."

Adrien's expression changed. "Yeah..." _Did I say something wrong?_ "But it's not always for sure that children would like what their parents do."

Adrien swept some snow off a bench and sat down. Marinette nervously sat down next to him.

"I don't think I've ever told you, but I don't like modeling," Adrien sighed.

"What?" Marinette looked at Adrien eyes wide open. "But you're so good at it!"

Adrien laughed but not with energy. "My father's forcing me to do it. I feel like I can't escape the career, but I just..." Adrien paused. "I just wanna do my own thing. You know?"

"I understand. Sometimes I feel guilty for not being there to take over the bakery, but I have too much passion for designing."

"My father just doesn't get it. I don't know what to do," Adrien looked desperate, an expression Marinette was not used to seeing from him.

"Hey," Marinette grabbed Adrien's arm. "It'll be okay. I mean, you're _Adrien Agreste._ You're one of the greatest people I know, there's no way life doesn't have something brilliant planned out for you."

"Wow," Adrien looked at Marinette, hopelessness disappearing from him face. "Thank you, Marinette. I really appreciate it."

Marinette flashed the warmest smile she had to give. "No problem."

They stayed there enjoying the atmosphere. It started snowing again. It was supposed to be cold but the touch of Adrien's shoulder next to Marinette's made her burn inside.

Adrien's phone rang. He didn't answer it, but from the look on his face Marinette knew it was Gabriel Agreste.

"I should probably head home now."

"Me, too," _Screw it_ , she needed to spit it out before she would change her mind. "Will you - no - could you, maybe, uh, if you'd like," Adrien looked at Marinette. "WOULD YOU GO THE BALL WITH ME?" She said with a red face. "The party... I mean the party..." she muttered.

"Yeah, sounds fun," Adrien grinned. "See you tomorrow!"

Marinette watched the blond disappear from the street. Everything she had done seemed to hit her. _I TALKED WITH ADRIEN. I have to call Alya! Did I grab his arm? Am I just creating fake memories? I GRABBED HIS ARM?!_

Marinette felt like falling down on the snow and giggling herself to sleep, but instead she ran home. She had to go figure out what to do with her hair.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **Thank you for your support! I really appreciate the comments, favorites and follows :)**

 **To 'A Loyal Reader': Yes, my username is Mel-llama, it's actually because my name starts with 'Mel' and my friend made fun of me for being such a llama (?) so she called me that :D I checked out the mashup, sounds pretty cool!**


	4. Chapter 4

"You're grinning."

Adrien woke up from his thoughts. Thoughts revolving around one specific blue-haired girl. Adrien tried to put on a pokerface, but failed.

"So what?" Adrien looked at Nino, who had snuck his way to Adrien's room without his father seeing. Adrien was always surpised at how Nino never got caught.

Nino was exhausted from Alya going on and on about how they should match outfits. "Don't you think you're a bit too excited about the party?"

Adrien fell on his bed. "But it's my first party with the whole class, Nino." Adrien's smile grew bigger. "And I'm going with Marinette."

"What?" Nino's eyes widened behind his glasses. "Since when are you so close with Mari?"

"What do you mean, we've always been friends." Adrien shrugged and tried to act like it was no big deal.

"You don't even talk to each other," Nino spun around in Adrien's blue chair. Adrien glared at Nino. _We do talk!_ "What happened between you guys, man?"

Truthfully, he wasn't sure himself. Spending a bit of time alone with Marinette had made Adrien want to spend more time with her. And more. And more. He didn't know if Marinette felt the same way, since half the time they'd spent together was with him as Chat Noir. Still, Marinette had asked him to the party, so obviously she must feel more comfortable around him.

"I don't know..." Nino looked like he wanted a better answer than that. And Adrien did want to talk about Marinette. "She just gets me." _She really does._ And Adrien felt like maybe he had a better understanding of Marinette now, too?

"Mari's sweet, still..." Nino paused. "I thought you had a crush on Ladybug?"

Adrien's face turned red. "W-whaat? I n-never said I liked Marinette!"

Nino looked at Adrien knowingly. "Ladybug's my hero. She is honestly so great I can't even describe it. But..." Adrien sighed. "Marinette is great too. And I get to share my life with her."

Nino let out a laugh at the last sentence. "I mean share, like, stuff about my life! Not share my life!" Adrien was even more flustered now. "You know what I mean!"

Nino tried to swallow his laughter. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you." Adrien glared at him and he chuckled again. "Yeah, it would be pretty hard to get to know a superhero."

Adrien knew what he liked about Ladybug. He liked the qualities she held. He liked how he felt at ease around her. But he could see those same qualities in Marinette, too.

She was so kind and thoughtful it was very easy to be her friend. _Friend._ Adrien had always appreciated Marinette, someone who treated her in a friendly way even though he had no experience with friendship. He was happy now that he could confidently call himself her friend.

But they still weren't friends in the same way he was friends with Nino and Plagg. Somehow, he didn't want Marinette to think of him as just her friend. He wanted to be something more. _Am I being selfish or delusional?_

Nino stood up. "Ok, girl talk is over. Let's play some video games."

 _o - o - o - o - o_

Marinette's hands were fidgeting. Adrien would arrive any moment now. _One more time,_ Marinette stole a glance at the mirror behind her. She had decided to let her hair down. She didn't want to be shallow, but couldn't help but to hope Adrien would like how she looked.

The doorbell rang.

 _Help._

Adrien stood with red and black flowers on his hands. "Hi."

"Hi," Marinette replied.

They looked at each other for a moment before Marinette's mother came to take the flowers while calling Adrien a sweet boy.

Once they got in the car, Marinette realized how big the silence was. She didn't mind it that much though. She was overwhelmed by how happy sitting next to Adrien made her.

"I like your dress. Did you make it?" Adrien asked.

"Y-yeah, I did, actually. I was kind of going for a Christmas theme," Marinette got excited. "I was really inspired by candy canes."

"It's really cool," Adrien smiled.

Many people were already at the party when Marinette and Adrien arrived. Nino was at the DJ booth and Alya was in a rush trying to get the best pictures. The room was decorated with paper snowflakes and red and green decorations. Marinette walked up to the table full of sweets and placed their gingerbread cookies in an empty spot.

"Shall we be the first ones to taste them?" Marinette asked.

"These look really nice," Adrien looked like he knew which cookie he wanted. He quickly grabbed the black cat.

Marinette felt surprised. She hadn't expected Adrien to choose that one. Somehow it seemed right, though. There was something similar between Adrien and Chat Noir. It might've been the way they were both very caring and always doing their best. They were a lot different to be around, but Marinette could still see the similarities.

Marinette grabbed the princess cookie. She didn't want anyone else to have it, since it had seemed like Chat had made it specifically for her.

 _Is Adrien blushing? Maybe I'm just imagining it._

"Do you wanna dance?" Adrien asked.

Marinette looked to her both sides just to make sure Adrien was talking to her. "Su-su-sure! I'm n-not a very good dancer but if that's okay..."

Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand and led her to the dance floor. Nino switched the song to a slow one and Marinette could see Adrien glare at him. _Dear Lord._

Marinette refused to look at Adrien's face. She was secretly happy for what Nino had did and could feel the blush on her cheeks, but it was too embarrassing to look Adrien in his green eyes.

After a few more songs, ones that were sped up, Adrien abruptly stopped dancing. Marinette stopped dancing too and forgot to keep her gaze away. Adrien's face looked flustered and his eyes were as green as ever.

"Hey, Marinette." Adrien gulped. "Why did you invite me here with you?"


	5. Chapter 5

Marinette's bright blue eyes stared at him in confusion. _Why did I ask that?_ Adrien threw his hand at his face. "Can we go talk somewhere more quiet?"

Marinette nodded and followed Adrien outside after grabbing her jacket. Her blue hair glowed in the light of the moon and Adrien desperately wanted to play with it. Instead, he addressed the issue.

"What do you think of me, Marinette?" Adrien frowned.

Marinette looked even more lost now. "Wh-what? What do you mean?"

When Adrien simply looked down, Marinette continued. "Y-you're my friend. And you're really just a f-f-fantastic person," Marinette seemed to be embarrassed. "I'm really happy we were paired up."

Marinette's face was red, but Adrien noted that they hadn't been outside long enough for it to be because of the cold.

"I'm just really confused." Adrien sighed. "I think you're a friend of mine but at the same time I know you're not but you also are and it's... I don't even know how to describe it."

Marinette kept on staring at Adrien and Adrien didn't know what to say or do. He kind of wanted to keep on talking but maybe now would be the time to play with her hair - _do friends even do that?_

"YOU LIKE HER YOU DUMBASS!" Alye yelled from the door and closed it again.

Adrien almost choked on _nothing_ and he felt like maybe he got the wrong miraculous based on how red his face probably was right now.

Marinette started awkwardly moving around looking as flustered as Adrien. _What do you do in a situation like this?_

"C-c-cat got your tongue?" _WHAT THE HELL, AGRESTE? IT DOESN' T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE TO BE MAKING CAT PUNS RIGHT NOW. YOU'RE NOT EVEN CHAT NOIR._

Marinette chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I knew you liked cats!"

"Sorry... It's a coping mechanism _._ "

They shared a small laugh.

"Listen..." Marinette said. "Don't worry about what Alya said, she's always like that."

"Actually, uh," Adrien grinned at Marinette. "I don't mind."

Adrien was satisfied by how surprised Marinette looked at the comment. _Cute._

"I was thinking," He gathered up some more courage. "Maybe you and I could hang out sometime? Like, not as a part of an assignment or a coincidence."

"A-and not in a party with all our classmates," Marinette laughed.

"Like, a date."

Marinette smiled with her whole face. "I would like that."

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **Whoopsie doopsie, a super short final chapter? That doesn't have much to do with Christmas? Well, I hope you enjoy it anyway.**

 **Thank you for all your support with the story! ^_^**

 **Also, any thoughts on the story picture I made with Microsoft Paint? :D That was hard.**

 **~Till we meet again!**


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